What a Good Dad Does

My earliest memories of my Dad are just clips, snatches of a story. I remember him taking me to the nursery at the college he was attending. The nursery had blue walls and windows way up high near the ceiling. And even though I was too big to be in a crib they put me in a very tall crib, with very tall sides. Well, that’s the way it looks in my memory. It was very cold in that room. I remember my Daddy trying to take a picture of me holding a rose but I didn’t want to hold it. I remember riding on his shoulders. My Daddy would swing me up and it was so incredibly high … and a bit scary. But when I heard his voice reassuring me ... well, it made everything all right.

All of my life whenever I’ve been scared, or unsure I could call my Dad and just the sound of his voice made me feel that somehow things would be ok, that I would be safe.

The way my Dad talked about God made me want to know Him as well. And when I was about six years old my Dad introduced me to my Father, my heavenly Father.

Here’s the really neat thing about good earthly fathers: they set the example … the give a picture of what fatherhood is all about. I have a few friends whose dads were just plain awful or mostly absent, but the example of the good earthly fathers that they saw from afar gave them a picture of what a good dad was all about. And because of that picture they were able to see how wonderful it would be to have a heavenly Father.

Jesus tells us that He is the Good Shepherd and that when we belong to Him we know His voice. It is this voice that gives us directions, commands, and confidence (Hebrews 10:35,36). This is the voice that we must obey.

John 10:3-15

… the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” …

Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. … The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. …

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. … They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

I thank God today for my Dad who laid down his life … set aside things that he could’ve done in order to spend time with me, in order to make sure that I knew his voice, that I heard his voice, and that I followed his direction. I'm doubly blessed because He introduced me to the most important person in my life ... God.